Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3’s success wasn’t surprising because it wascompeting with a tentpole Bethesda RPGwhen it launched, it was surprising because it was a turn-based cRPG.
The genre never went away, but it certainly became more niche as big budget action RPGs superseded it. To see a more traditional,Dungeons & Dragons-based experience dominate the zeitgeist as much as Baldur’s Gate 3 did — and to an extent, still is — was unprecedented. It proved that turn-based games still have a place at the top.
Like a Dragonis doing the same, drawing inspiration fromDragon Questwith its mainline entries as of 2020.
But there are of course naysayers writing it off because of that old school approach. Just read any comment section arguing over ‘Spider-Man 2being snubbed at The Game Awards’. So, one of the first big-scale projects to come out of the official modding tools that Larian Studios recently released is to make the entire game playable in real-time.
It’s Very Much A Work-in-Progress Right Now
Baldur’s Gate 3 has some of the most intricateturn-based combatin any game, so I can’t stress how enormous of an undertaking this is, retooling all of the game’s systems to work in a completely different genre.
Last year, a tweet went viral casually asking Larian to add a real-time option like it was no big deal. Everyone — and I mean everyone — ridiculed them over it because of how big an undertaking it would be. And that’s with Larian’s resources, nevermind a hobbyist in their spare time.
So, understandably, it looks a little janky. Especially since the modding tools were just released. This is an incredibly early glimpse at what a real-time Baldur’s Gate 3 would look like. Modder tinybike themselves admits that it’s a “Very very very rough draft”. Enemies will even jump you mid-dialogue. So, it’s not at all a viable way to play right now, but you may download it off ofGithubif you really want to try it for yourself.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
